Chapter 6:
The twin suns of Tatooine still bludgeoned the surface of the planet, but had begun to set. Their light turned a fiery orange as they made their approach to the other side of the planet. It was a blinding first step out into the street even in the low light. Long shadows were cast on the ground that further aided to hide my face. It was a desert at dusk. The winds had cooled. The sky was subdued but still bright with an orange light.
My eyes finally started to adjust after we had driven far from Mos Eisley in Nes' speeder car. The suns had nearly disappeared on the horizon. Even then I still squinted like I was flinching at a coming blow. The white sands only made the remaining glare worse. I found it hard to believe that planet was habitable. It was nothing like back home. No Wroshyr trees. They would have dwarfed even the mightiest rocks in that desert, and no thick brush or ropes of jungle vine, no screams and hollers of animals carpeting the landscape. No signs of life could be seen for miles. On Kashyyyk, life was everywhere; from the very top of the Wroshyr trees to the bottom levels of the planet. I dwelled on my homesickness to pass the time as the sands blurred beneath us.
"We are getting close. Too bad it's so far out here, but with Imperials around we have little choice," Nes said. After several more minutes of travel, and after the suns had waned, I began to see lights winking into existence on the horizon. The closer we got the better I could see that it was a stadium of sorts. Nes slowed the craft down as we neared it and finally entered it. The multitudes were as diverse there as in Mos Eisley. There must have been thousands of people there, all outlaws in the Empire's eyes, packed in the stand. Several pods, as Nes had described them, were huddled in the pit area grouped together, and near each one was a banner that flew over each pit indicating teams. Energy and excitement was in the air. I had never seen anything like it back home.
Nes parked the speeder car and we walked the rest of the way into the stadium towards the racer's pit. The undulating roar, applause, and jeers of the crowd were all that could be heard in anticipation of the race. The crews for each of the pod-racer teams were working on their pods as we neared Nes' team. Nes signaled for me to wait back while he spoke to his racer who was sitting in his pod. After a few whispered words and nods, the racers started towing their pods to the starting line at the command of the announcer. His voice boomed over loud speakers that were placed throughout the stadium. The sudden god-like, projected voice startled me. Everyone watched intently as their favorite racer inched to the starting line. Then the announcer spoke again and announced each individual team and the famed racer within each pod. Nes had to yell at me so I could hear him.
"That's my pod and my racer over there. Team Sincarrii." Nes pointed to the furthest end of the starting line. Some green, fish looking alien was inside of the pod. The pod itself was a small compartment connected to two huge jet engines. Between the engines was what looked like a constant, pulsing, stream of lightning connecting the two. Black hoses stretched from the pod to the engines like tentacles. The entire event seemed obscure to me, as was the makeshift-looking state of the racer pods themselves. The entire thing seemed like shoddy, mechanized, patchwork of jet-powered masochism.
"Thirty seconds to the start and our racers are primed and ready!" boomed the announcer. The crowd cheered.
"There's a lot of money being moved here. Sometimes the losers don't like paying up. That's what you're here for." Nes yelled to me over the crowd.
"What if you lose?" I hollered back, curious at his confidence.
"I have certain advantages in this race. You do what you can to win. It's tradition."
I had a good idea of what he meant. I crossed my arms and watched the huge overhead projection screen hanging at the arch of the stadium. The announcer began the count down and a series of different colored lights on a post at the starting line activated in sequence as the announcer counted.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! And they're off!" The pod racers slammed the throttle sending them shooting like laser bolts over the starting line. A tail of dirt blasted into the air as the engines carved gouges into the racetrack. Clouds of dust floated in the wake and obscured the entire area of the archway and the announcer's tower as it lifted upwards. The thundering cheers of the crowd were drowned-out by the unison scream of the jet engines. The projection screen followed the movements of each of the racers as they emerged from the cloud and sped over the track.
"Team Sincarrii is in the lead followed closely by Bonfiet. Teams Zin-Mohck and Anwangiri in third and fourth. Ooh!! Team Sincarrii takes a brutal swipe from team Bonfiet, almost smearing him into the rock face!"
The crowd hung on the words of the announcer like a symphony waiting for direction from the conductor. The audience grunted, groaned, and cheered with the movement of the racers. I watched the screen in amazement as the pod-racers battled to get ahead of one another lap after lap. Sparks flew as the over-built, and under-maintained, and operating-beyond-their-limitations, ion thrusters collided. The ground beneath them was just a blur as the cameras followed them. The huge rocks of the Tatooine desert passed by just as fast.
I moved my eyes off the screen for a split second to look at the crowd, still in awe of the collective excitement, and then a huge explosion shattered the air. I looked back to the screen and saw what was left of team Anwangiri. A flaming, whirling ball that was once a pod spiraled across the racetrack. The driver was nowhere to be seen. The other three racers flew past without looking back.
"Awww, poor Anwangiri. Looks like the odds for the three remaining teams just got better," said the announcer. The crowd erupted in laughter. How easily and lightly death was treated there. For as advanced as that world seemed in areas, almost every aspect of it was barbaric.
The pod-racers sped through the stadium again, crossing the finish line for the ninth time.
"And we are on the final lap with Sincarrii dominating the entire race!" I watched the racers exit the stadium, and enter the first length of the final lap. Sincarrii still held the lead rabidly side-swiping into anyone who came near him. I could see arms waving and fists flailing, and more-than-likely, less than polite conversation between the racers.
Sincarrii and Zin-Mohck competed for first place by slamming into each other repeatedly. They would sideswipe into each other and breakaway to swing in for leverage for another grapple. As the two battlers were opening for another hit, Bonfiet sped into the gap between Sincarrii and Zin-Mohck, but not clearing them in time.
"Ooh! Such a beautiful turn around by Team Bonfiet as he tries to clear the gap and make some headway!!" said the announcer.
Sincarrii and Zin-Mohck came in to ram each other, not reacting fast enough to the unexpected obstacle that came in-between them. The three pod-racers collided.
"Uh oh, looks like the three teams are in trouble. They seemed to be tangled up and are now losing speed. Look at the teams ready to fight it out in mid air!" The crowd erupted into another chorus of laughter. The three racers still speeding towards the stadium on the final length still tied to each other.
"They better figure out something soon, there is no such thing as a tie in this race people!"
The pods rocked back and forth as the racers tried pulling away from each other. The stress was obvious on the battered pods and engines. Sparks, dust, and the occasional metal fragment shot out in all directions from the three pods. They were quickly coming into view on the horizon, at least the dust cloud was. I looked back and forth between their obscured forms in the distance and the screen. Nes jabbed his fist at the screen as if to pound on the heads of the rival drivers himself.
They entered the stadium and would soon cross the finish line at the same time. Each driver tried pulling away from each other, teetering the pods as one, then a huge shower of sparks flew from all three pods and they separated. Team Sincarrii headed straight into the stadium. Team Bonfiet and Zin-Mohck went in opposite directions flailing their arms in a panic. Before they had a chance to even consider what mistakes they had made, both pods flew right into the stadium pillars at the entrance exploding on impact, and decimating the pods and racers. Two billowing, black clouds of smoke rolled up into the air and over the crowd like a terrifying storm. The crowd broke loose, and the sound was deafening. They cheered as Team Sincarrii, Nes' team, as he crossed the finish line. One non-functioning engine was smoking, and the entire pod itself leaned to one side from damage to the repulsor lifts; the driver was bloodied.
"And there you have it people. The winner of the Tatooine semi-finals by one hell of a close call. Team Sincarrii!!" yelled the announcer as the crowd continued to cheer even louder; a few boos could be heard among it.
"That's right! What'd I tell ya?" Nes playfully slapped my arm, and then ran to his damaged pod-racer. I just shook my head and looked around. The smoke from the destroyed pod-racers lifted out of sight and into the night sky, the black smear that was once the drivers was the most significant piece that remained. Three people had just died, much to the enjoyment of the mob, but Nes was pleased he won. His driver was lifted out of his pod, and was put on a stretcher. The pod was damaged and looked about ready to drop onto the ground, but Nes didn't seem to care.
No wonder why this competition was outlawed," I thought. However, despite the barbarous, violent, and unforgiving nature of it, I must admit it was exciting.
Nes walked back over to me ignoring the fact that his driver was in grievous condition.
"Now we collect on our dues, Makaashyya. Keep your eyes open, this is the dangerous part."
Now is the dangerous part. I followed him as he went towards for the announcer's tower just aside the starting line, connected to the arch over it. At the top of the tower, the entire stadium and the empty, lifeless desert for miles came into view. Several of the, what I assume, were the more important people were up there. Dressed much richer than anyone down below.
We stepped into the announcer's tower and made our way to the balcony just below the announcer. A horrifyingly obese, slug-looking creature lounging on a platform on the balcony overlooking the stadium slithered off and came towards us. I couldn't understand its language, and its thoughts were mired in layers upon layers of other thoughts making impossible for me to understand. I could only guess that the creature wasn't at all pleased to see Nes.
"Seems you have won again, Nes." The creature bellowed; his voiced seemed as loud as the announcer's. "That makes the fourth race in a row. You wouldn't be cheating me would you? You know how I deal with cheats in my city."
"Would I cheat you, Jabba? You know how these races are. If you were the one on a winning streak, would you like for me to call you a cheat?" Nes said.
"You wouldn't be alive after making that insult, Nes." The creature named Jabba threatened.
"Yeah ok, well, how about I collect my winnings and be on my way." Nes said, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Jabba laughed a deep, belly laugh mockingly at Nes.
"Now Nes, you just can't get paid and run. Come, have drinks with me. Bring your new bodyguard too." The thing laughed again. It made my fur stand on end. Nes nodded to me and I followed. Jabba slithered, and resumed his position upon his flat throne, and Nes sat in a chair next to Jabba. A serving droid set some drinks on a table in front of them.
"Where did you find this new one? Will it last longer than your last?"
"We have a special arrangement. She…" Nes started, but then Jabba interrupted.
"She? That must be some special arrangement. And a Wookiee none-the-less." It laughed again mockingly.
"It's not like that, Jabba. She owes me I owe her. When her debt is paid she'll be on her way."
"On her way where? Wookiees are not very popular with the Empire. Why not transfer her debt to me and I will pay you in kind. I could say that you still owe me," said Jabba.
"I can say a lot of things too, it doesn't make them true." Nes gulped his drink, and set the empty glass down. Jabba grabbed a hose that was sitting next to him and began to puff, smoke billowed from its mouth. Jabba then reached behind his pipe, and pulled out a metal box and set it on the table before Nes. Nes greedily snatched it up.
"I like the arrangement I have now thanks."
"Very well, Nes. Just don't forget what happened last time. My monster is always needing food."
Nes stood and half bowed to Jabba.
"Good luck at the final next week." Nes smiled and turned to walk away. I remained standing next to the table for a moment. Jabba continued to puff on his pipe looking me up and down, and it laughed again.
Repulsed, I walked away.
"I got it, let's get the hell outta here," said Nes.
"I couldn't agree more," I said. We walked out of the tower and back down towards Nes' land speeder. We drove away leaving the stadium on the horizon.
"Jabba has something up his sleeve. We better keep our eyes open," Nes said nervously.
"Not that Jabba doesn't have a reason to be upset. Your pilot cheated didn't he?" I asked, already knowing the answer. I just wanted to hear Nes say it.
"That's the name of the game, Wookiee. You do what you can to win. Jabba would have done no different."
"What were you talking about, a special arrangement?"
"Jabba is very nosey and likes to butt in on everyone's business." Nes' answer was shaky.
"He seemed like he was laughing at you. What were you talking about?" I felt that something was wrong, and that Nes was hesitant to tell me. Nes paused for a moment in thought. I finally started to see some of what was going through his mind since leaving the stadium, but it was clouded and unclear. I couldn't divine anything solid.
"I had a few bad business deals in the past with Jabba. My associate paid the price as a warning to me."
"Your associate?" A quick flash of a dark skinned creature hidden by shadow reaching through bars towards me, or towards Nes rather, came into my mind. The person was terrified. Then I saw why, a gigantic creature came up behind him, towering over him with saliva dripping from its maw.
I left Nes' mind and came back to myself.
"The one I replaced, I assume?" I asked.
"It's not how you think. He was a friend, and because of a bad deal he was fed to Jabba's monster that he keeps at his palace."
I stopped and slowly moved my hand to my lightsaber fully intending to cut Nes in half.
"And is that the reason you wanted to reach a deal with me? So the next bad deal you get into, I'll pay the price?"
"Just wait. This doesn't have to get ugly." Nes brought the land speeder to an abrupt halt, and inched his hand towards the blaster on his right hip.
"Help me get one more job done and our agreement is over, I'll get you enough money to get off planet, or get your own place, or whatever you want. Alright?" He moved his hand away from his blaster and I took my hand from my lightsaber.
"I think the faster this relationship ends the better," I said. Nes' mind became shrouded again.
"We'll both get what we want from this arrangement, and we can go about our lives, there's not reason to be unfriendly. I'll drop you off at the room, and I'll come get you when I am ready for you. I'll keep my ears open for any news about your troubles, just so you know there are no hard feelings."
The trip back to the apartment complex was quiet. Both of us were weary of the other. Our brief business relationship had gone sour considerably fast. When we arrived back at Mos Eisley, I went up to the room, and Nes again locked the door behind him on his way out. I flopped down on the couch, frustrated with my entire situation.
**********
I woke with a start, lying in the same position that I had flopped into on the couch. I grabbed for my lightsaber, and with a sharp crack and the familiar hiss I activated it expecting attackers. The crimson glow of the blade barely lit my face. The room was dark, not like night, but a clinging darkness, like some black fluid filled the room. I felt something there.
I looked deeper into the black as it writhed and swirled in on itself like oil on the surface of water at night. Then I heard the faint voice, my name on the wind as it used to be in my dreams. The voice was everywhere and nowhere all at once until it faded. The darkness swallowed it. Then I was alone, alone with the darkness closing in on me. I swung my saber in a wide, panicked arc. The darkness engulfed the burning energy blade holding it fast. It moved down the blade to the hilt, and then to my hands, then to my arms to consume me. My screams were drowned out when the blackness poured into my throat.
I woke screaming. My saber sat idly on the floor, and the room was cold and dark, the normal dark of night. I jumped up and turned on the light to chase away the shadows in the room and in my mind. The room was as it should've been. I figured I had fallen asleep moments after I had lay down. After a few more moments I regained my composure. I felt terribly alone in that small room, my vulnerabilities manifesting more often.
"These damn dreams. Ambushing me like some coward would, nothing tangible for me to cut down," I said to myself out loud, more for the sake of hearing a real voice. I made myself some food, or attempted to make something edible out of what passed for food in the condenser. I tried to block out the images of my new dream as I ate, telling myself that I was just a little haywire from all that had happened. I finished eating, and realized I had far too much time to dwell on my thoughts and talk to myself.
"What the hell am I going to do once this is done and over with?" I asked myself. "Gethzerion never told me of her plans for us, that witch was always so vague when it came to details. I've escaped from the Imperial prison, I've been trained in the ways of the Force, and here I stand, a prisoner in this apartment making dinner." I went to lay back down with lightsaber in hand trying to keep my eyes open as I stared at the ceiling.
I dozed off again. And again I dreamt.
I don't know if it was a relief to have had the original dream back, or the new one. It wasn't comforting that time. I relived each painful moment in my mind, helpless to do anything about it. The blaster-fire lit up the trees, the bodies hit the floor, a stormtrooper reached for me, and then I woke in shock. A hand was around my throat threatening to choke the life out of me. It was dark and I couldn't see their faces. Two others hidden in the darkness grabbed my arms and held them in place with all their strength. I tried pulling out of their grasp, but they held me tight. I screamed and roared. I tried biting at their faces, but the one holding my throat punched me in the head each time I tried. My lightsaber was nowhere to be found. I tried kicking, but my legs were being hastily tied together. I focused my thoughts onto the one grabbing my throat. I could feel the Force flow through me like a conduit as I tossed him away hard enough to slam into the opposite wall, knocking him unconscious. The other two responded quickly, and slammed a rifle stock into my skull. I lost consciousness next.
**********
I woke an unknown amount of time later. A steady, fast breeze was flowing over me. It was bright. My head throbbed, and I could taste blood in my mouth. I then felt the collar around my neck pinching the flesh, and the binders around my wrists. I thought for a moment that the past six years were a dream, and that I was still a captive of the Empire, until my vision cleared and I realized I was laying flat on the floorboard of a land speeder heading to some unknown place. One of my captors sat across from me with a blaster just inches from my face, I could smell the oil on it. The other two sat in the front seat.
"It's awake," said the one with the blaster, a human.
"Make sure she doesn't pull anymore of her Jedi tricks. Plant one in her leg if she moves." Not as much to my surprise but to my own gullibility, Nes was there. He turned around from the front passenger seat to face me.
"Sorry girl, but I didn't think you'd be willing for this last job, so I had to persuade you. See, that race didn't make me quite as much as I hoped. With Jabba breathing down my neck about what I owe him - in a round about way - I had little choice but to offer you as a substitute."
I thought of bringing my lightsaber to me, but couldn't see where they had put it. I tried entering their minds, but the pulsing pain in my skull compounded by the ever-burning suns beating down on me eyes disturbed my concentration.
"Look at it this way," Nes said flippantly, "at least you won't have to figure out where to go or what you'll do once our arrangement ends, you'll have room and board, and a job." He laughed.
"Our arrangement doesn't end here, Nes," I promised. He just shook his head with a big dumb smirk on his face.
"It moved," said the one holding the blaster. Before I could say anything else, the butt stock of his blaster came smashing into my head at the same place as before.
**********
I awoke again to a boot jabbing at my ribs. Blood congealed in my left eye half-blinding me. I was face down in the sand and the heat was nauseating.
"Get up," said Nes.
Stumbling, and weak on my feet, I worked my way up to stand, but still bound by the wrists and neck. I spit out the sand that had blown into my mouth, and blinked to clear my vision. When I was able to see I saw a huge domed building thankfully blotting out most of the suns' light. It was covered in the same rough texture, and bland color as the rest of the planet, as if the buildings on Tatooine were constructions built from the very sands they rested on. Jabba's palace, I assumed. A sharp pain shot through my eyes like a knife being pushed out from within as a ray of sunlight crept over the dome. I winced and returned my squinting eyes to the ground.
"Let's go, I want to get this over with," Nes said. I couldn't figure if it was guilt, impatience, or nervousness in Nes' voice when he said that, but something was weighing on his mind. My own mind was in chaos because of the pain from the several large knots on my head. I felt for them and was surprised by their large size. The slightest touch enraged them. I lowered my hands from my head as if it would explode with any sudden movements, and I took some deep, slow breaths. Nes and his goons led me to the palace. One of Nes' lackeys rapped on the ancient, metal door, and spoke in the same language Jabba spoke. After a few moments came loud clicks and metal on metal grinding, and then the door slowly began to lift from its resting place. It creaked and groaned in protest. The whirring of the motors almost overcame the noise of the door itself. I was almost glad to be shoved into the darkness within the palace, despite being captive. The darkness eased my flaming mind. We crossed over the threshold, and the doors closed behind us.
We walked down a flight of stairs and into an open chamber that looked like another tavern, only busier and muskier like a boozed-up campsite. There was also the same familiar alien melting pot, the excited music, and the Twi-lek dancers seductively writhing for the rancorous, and villainous crowd. Upon a platform at the center of the tavern flanked by a black-robed Twi-lek, with jagged teeth, and red eyes, was the fat worm-like creature Jabba, leisurely puffing on his pipe. Right next to the pipe sat a small tank with nunas swimming inside. Lounging in the coils of Jabba's tail in mimicry of its master sat a beaked, rat-looking thing that cackled maniacally when it looked at me with its jaundiced, yellow eyes.
"So, you've decided to settle then, Nes?" Jabba spoke with booming laughter. The entire group of people laughed with him almost like they were afraid not to.
"This makes us even, Jabba. You can have your minions back now, and let me go about my businesses," Nes said impatiently, and nervously, like the sniveling parasite that he was.
"Such luck I have been having. Two Wookiees now." Jabba laughed again as did everyone else. "Very well, your debts are settled. Next time, Nes, nothing short of your dead body will settle." Jabba laughed triumphantly, the crowd laughed with him yet again like his own personal, portable chorus. I looked up to watch Nes walk back up the stairs we came from. I could see my lightsaber dangling from his belt as he left. It took all the will I could muster to prevent myself from lunging for Nes and ripping his spine out with my claws. I figured I wouldn't make it two steps before I collapsed from dizziness and be beaten again.
Jabba then spoke to me.
"So we meet again, Makaashyya. Nes was lucky to have found you. I hope you will enjoy your stay here, there is much for you to do," said Jabba, trying to make his palace sound like some kind of resort. I tried to pry into the creature's mind again in order to grasp something of what he was intending, but either my head hurt too much, or his mind was too well controlled. I couldn't tell which, nor did I have a moment to guess before I was being shoved from behind to a far corner of the bar by a Gamorrean guard, and down another flight of stairs. Jabba, his pet, and the crowd laughed at me as I descended. The stairs ended in a darkened corridor. On either side were rows of jail cells. The guard pushed me inside one of the opened cells, and the door quickly shut and locked behind me with a rickety, metallic clang that echoed throughout the halls.
I went to the door and tried looking around outside of the cell, but it was too dark. I could hear other prisoners grunting, snorting and growling. I shook my head and turned away from the door feeling as hopeless as ever, and I lay down on the hard metal platform jutting from the wall of the cell that served as a bed, and closed my eyes. Luckily it was dark, save for a dim, red light coming from the top of the cell. I calmed myself, and let my mind drift while trying to ignore the pain. The binders about my neck and wrists dug through my fur to find the soft flesh underneath giving me an enraging reminder of my imprisonment at the hands of the Empire. With no company but my anger, I let my mind continue to drift. The noise in my brain was like static, loud, thundering static, at first. The thoughts from the other prisoners came in multitudes of whispers, and desperate pleas as I wandered from cell to cell. None were left empty.
I tried to find Jabba, only to meet a wall. His Twi-lek servant on the other hand was very open, almost eager to have his thoughts known. He was bitter and contemptuous, and full of bluster. Like several others there, he plotted and schemed against his fellow criminals including Jabba. Jabba's image repeated again and again in the Twi-lek's mind as if he was lusting for revenge against Jabba for something, and then I felt something strange, something I hadn't felt since Dathomir.
I then remembered Jabba mention another Wookiee, yet to my shock there was another Wookiee in one of the cells. The echo of his mind stood out among the rest of the prisoners where it was hidden from me before I remembered. I drifted to it and away from the bar, down the stairs, and to a cell near mine. As I approached and tried to enter his mind it closed shut and pushed me away forcefully and waking me from my meditation.
"It's just as well," I said to myself. "Best not to distract myself in the thoughts of another slave." I rolled over, and let sleep take me and resigned myself to my fate for the time being.
**********
I couldn't tell how much time had passed since I had fallen asleep. Sitting up sent shockwaves through my tender skull. The knots on my head had subsided a little, but the slightest movement angered them. I sat there enjoying the solemn dark, building the strength to move around. Then the door opened, and another one of the pig-guards clumsily stepped into the cell. He dragged me to my feet, and pushing me out the cell. They marched me past the other cells and to a room deeper in the palace, the Gamorrean constantly prodding me in the back with his vibro axe all the while. We rounded a corner and came to a room filled with busted droids, wires, and sheets of metal, and junk. It was a factory of some sort. Machines separated the assorted junk parts of droids, appliances, and whatever else that had been scavenged or stolen by Jabba's henchmen. Droids worked on the machines, or on other droids. Some looked like they were being tortured. It seemed almost comical if it were not so brutal. A functional droid stood at a podium that the guard then shoved me towards.
"Yes, the new laborer." The antiquated droid said in a spiteful, raspy, failing voice. The tinge of emotion from the automaton amazed me. I never saw a droid behave in such a way before. "Your assignment is salvage. You are to disassemble, sort, and transport. You will begin here."
The droid pointed to a heap of busted droids and electronics tangled in a mass of wires in a far corner of the factory.
"The master has need for parts, and functional machinery. If you resist, you will be destroyed," the droid said matter-of-factly. The droid didn't look very capable and it was weaponless, but the guards were another story, and then there was the matter of actually escaping from the lower levels of the palace. The lack of options frustrated me yet again.
"Work well, and you will be treated fairly," said the droid.
That's familiar, I thought. The guard shoved me again in the back towards the pile of junk in the corner with his axe and a brute snort of simple-minded triumph. Before I could decide to obey or to fight back, the blunt end of the pig-guard's axe met with the back of my head knocking me to the ground.
From prison, to prison, to prison I seemed destined. I bided my time, and waited for an opportunity no matter how small, doing the work as I was told within that stifling factory, and surrounded by the smells of fire, electricity, and the circuitry of droids. Days bled into weeks. I was kept under close guard at all times because of my misbehavior, which was often rewarded with beatings. The headaches were pervasive. At times a blaster bolt to the head seemed like it would have been a pleasant change of pace. However, from my small home in the prison cell I was still able to gather much information from the weaker-minded people that frequented Jabba's palace. The layout of the palace was eventually made clear to me from their memory, including how many guards there were, and other interesting things that could prove useful when I made my escape. Nes had yet to return as far as I knew, and the other Wookiee shut me out of his mind at each attempt.
**********
A few weeks passed, by my guess, and things continued as normal. I worked until my body ached, and my hands raw. I was fed meagerly, and then sent back to my cell. I had yet to make it through a day without getting hit, and it always seemed to be a headshot as well. My opportunity arrived sooner than I anticipated.
I was busy tearing the guts from a disabled droid when I saw him enter the room carrying immense metal crates on his shoulders like they were nothing. It was the other Wookiee, the one whose mind I felt when I was first put in the cell. He was tall, definitely one of the tallest Wookiees I had ever seen. His short, black fur with rivers of white fur throughout, lazily bulged and rippled from the thick muscle underneath despite the heavy load he was carrying. He towered over the guards and anyone else, organic or robotic. I didn't realize how long I had been watching him when his pale gray eyes met mine. I turned away trying to ignore his presence, and ripped more wires and circuits from the droid I was working on. The Wookiee dropped his crates onto the floor; the floor vibrated from the impact. I could feel him looking at me, smiling at me even as he was prodded away by the pig-guards. I didn't realize that I had been holding my breath the entire time until he left.
I passed the hours working as every other day, and the other Wookiee kept coming into my mind. I was in conflict with myself. As much as I desired to be around and speak with my own kind, I was repulsed by the idea because of what I had done, no, because of what they had done, I reassured myself.
"You," said the annoying, overlord droid, disturbing me from my thoughts. "The master needs his sail barge loaded for a delivery. Follow the guards to help the other one like you."
I figured the droid meant the other Wookiee. I stood and followed one Gamorrean guard, while being prodded in the back by his partner. Then I realized where I was being led, after remembering what I had learned of the palace from the other prisoners. Upstairs through a back way, and then into the blinding light that I had not seen in almost two months. I didn't realize how much I missed the natural light. I actually missed the cursed suns of Tatooine. After a few minutes of me blindly walking, trusting the guards to direct me, my vision began to clear.
A repulsor-lift ship hovered in a small bay right outside of the palace. The craft was shaped like a boat. A canopy covered the top to act as protection from the heat. Next to it sat a similar, smaller craft surrounded by guards, and there was the other Wookiee. He was standing at one end of a huge metal beam lying in the sand. The guards prodded me to the other end of the beam.
"We need to get this on the barge," said the Wookiee. It had been long time since I had heard someone else speak Shyriiwook. It was comforting and repulsive all at the same time. His voice brought back to me feelings that I had tried to leave in the mud back on Dathomir. Again I had to force myself to break eye contact with him and instead focus on the task set for us. He lifted the beam easily while I struggled, and then I heard the echo of his mind. His thoughts were like off of the walls of a cave.
Throw it, throw it, throw it, he said over and over. No sooner did it occur to me what he meant before we sent it flying towards the guards crushing several of them underneath the beam. The other guards were slow to react. I then realized the opportunity and jumped up onto the smaller ship and force-pushed two guards clear off the cruiser and into the hot sands of the Dune Sea. The third guard, a wrinkle-faced monster with a blaster, took aim and fired, searing my fur at my side underneath my arm. He didn't have time for a second shot before I had his neck in my hands. I wanted to rend his throat, but I stopped myself in the presence of the other Wookiee. I picked up the guard, and threw him at another, knocking them both out. The Wookiee then climbed onto the craft and went straight for the controls and engaged the thrusters before I could get my balance. Ungracefully, I toppled to the floor. The blaster fire barely missed us as we sped away.
"That was some quick thinking. I was hoping you'd get the message," said the Wookiee with a giant smile on his face, clearly enjoying himself. I gathered myself up and peeked over the side of the craft.
"We're not safe yet, they're coming," I yelled. He looked back to see what I saw. A landspeeder and two speeder bikes came up fast behind us, a rooster tail of dust billowing into the sky behind them. "Can't you get this thing moving any faster?" I yelled to him as I scoured about the craft for any kind of weapon.
"This isn't a speeder and we couldn't exactly be picky now could we?"
Another volley of blaster fire tore holes into the side panels of our cruiser. The Wookiee jerked hard on the controls veering the ship into a hard turn to the right, skirting around a huge rock jutting from the sands, and kicking up a billowing cloud of dust in our wake. For a moment I thought we lost them until they came speeding out of the cloud as close to us as before.
"You have to do better than that," I tried yelling over the chaotic noise of the wind sweeping past us, the blaster fire, and the protesting whine of the cruiser. Red blaster bolts screamed through the air. Aside from ripping the chairs from their moorings, the craft was bereft of weapons. The two guards on speeder bikes finally caught up to us and took to both sides of our cruiser. Like some insane daredevil, the guard on our left made a flying leap from his bike with a knife in hand. The Wookiee turned the cruiser hard to the left, and barreled over the rider-less speeder bike. The cruiser lunged on its side as it grated over the speeder bike, throwing the guard right on top of me, surprising both him and me. I pushed him up from me, and put my foot to his chest. With all my strength, I sent him flying back over the side of the cruiser headfirst into the blur of ground underneath us. His screams were muffled by a mouthful of hot sand upon impact.
"We still have one on us," I shouted to the Wookiee, hoping he would hear me.
"Don't worry, opportunity blows. Look!" He pointed to the horizon. It took me a moment to see past the bright haze, the blowing wind, and the sand.
"What is that?" I squinted my eyes to bring what I saw into focus. I looked, and coming towards us as fast as we were approaching it, was a wall of sand that was slowly starting to blot out the suns. "You can't be serious!" I yelled.
"You got a better idea?" He steered the cruiser straight for the mountain of dust, a big smile stretched upon his face. I looked behind us. The remaining guard still chasing started to slow down and make an attempt to turn around.
"You may want to close your eyes," the Wookiee yelled, and then ducked to the floor of the cruiser, his hands still holding the controls. I ducked and took one last look at the dust storm meters away from us, and then curled up onto the floor as tightly as I could and braced myself. The dust-filled gale hit the cruiser, shearing off a significant amount of speed. I covered my eyes and mouth with my hands, and waited.
The craft threatened to rattle itself to pieces. It lunged, and rocked, the thrusters whirred in strain and then the sound of metal on metal came as sand filled the intakes. The next thing I knew we were being sent head over heels into the sand, gravity seemed to invert, my stomach churned, the Wookiee laughed joyfully, and the craft came to rest on its side. I couldn't open my eyes to see, the storm prevented it. The sand also started to engulf my legs as well, and I was quickly becoming entombed within the cruiser. Then I felt his hand pull me from my position of cover and pulled me close to him, and there we stayed until the storm passed.